"Week End" Updates

So this week end update is coming a little late.  My goal for last week was to take Sunday off, then walk 30 miles between Monday and Saturday and lift weights 4 times.  Unfortunately, I had been battling a pretty big blister from the week before which resulted in me not able to put a shoe on on Thursday.  Fun, fun!  Nevertheless, I more than made up for it by adding in different activities and also working out yesterday (Sunday).  It might be easiest to list, so here we go:


Sunday - Rest
Monday - Walked 5 miles
Tuesday - Walked 6 miles + lifted weights for 30 minutes
Wednesday - Walked 6 miles
Thursday - Swam laps for ~hour + 30 minutes weights
Friday - Walked 5 miles
Saturday - Walked 6 miles
Sunday - Walked 2 miles + 7.75 mile bike ride

I did get my 30 miles in six days in, but only 2 days of weight lifting.  I'm ready for a day off though!  I'm going to take a rest day today because I'm tired and a little sore. 

What I'm really proud of this week is that when my foot was too sore to put a shoe on to get my miles in, I found another activity that I could do instead of just saying, "forget it."  That's a new experience for me!  And a good one.  There are always other options when you get thrown off track a little bit.  This is something I really need to internalize and remind myself of when things go a little wrong.  My journey to healthy needs to include new life-long habits and this is one thing that I need to make a habit in my life.

This next week will be a little crazy.  I'm moving (again) Thursday-Saturday so I'm not 100% sure how much working out I will get in during those three days.  However, I am just moving from one building to another, so the moving will be entirely lifting and leg work (no trucks!) so that should count for something!  Because of the oddness of this week, my challenge for this week is food-related.  I was a little off on my eating these last couple of weeks, which has resulted in a stall in my weight loss.  This week (starting yesterday), I plan to stick to around 1,500 calories every day.  I will also be focusing on eating mostly fruits, veggies, and lean chicken/fish/turkey. 

What's funny is that I always hear about everyone being on a diet.  For me, this isn't a diet, this is a lifestyle.  If I want to be healthy for life, I need to eat in a way that I can continue for the rest of my life, so my list of "mostly" foods is just that.  Mostly.  I really don't deprive myself of anything, except trigger foods (chocolate, chips, etc.).  I still have those things occasionally, but they are not part of my everyday life.

Unlimited

First things first.  On my post on Saturday, I challenged myself to 30 miles of some combo of running, walking, and hiking over six days (Mon-Sat) + 4 days of lifting weights.  Things are going well thus far!  I took Sunday as a rest day as per the plan, but I find that rest days just make me feel like crap - tired and lazy, both on the rest day and the next day.  I may try to do a little something, like a slow walk, on rest days. 

Never-the-less, I walked 5 miles on the treadmill yesterday and 6 miles (3 outside, 3 on the treadmill) + 30 minutes weights today.  So, I've got 11 miles in in 2 days!  I figure there will be a day later in the week where I will want to walk less, so I went a little longer today.  Tomorrow I have a mid-morning appointment so I will likely break up my workout a little bit, which actually makes it easier.  I haven't run this week as my knee has been acting up again.  I enjoy running but when my knee hurts, I can't help but think that I will just cause more damage if I do a high impact activity.

My second topic of the day is Jillian Michael's book, Unlimited.  I passed this book by about six or seven times and finally broke down and bought it on Monday.  I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it but I am really enjoying it.  This book isn't exactly about how to succeed in physical health, but the advise provided in this book can be applied to your career, mental health, relationships, physical health, really any part of your life that you are having a problem with.  I will provide a more complete review of this book, but for now, I'd like to share my favorite quote from the book.

"...it's my dream, so back off and start working on your own."

Why do I like this quote so much?  Because sometimes I feel like I am surrounded by so much negativity.  I hear over and over again people talk about what other people are working towards and how much they don't support it.  Here's the thing - if that person is working towards something that will make them happy and doing it in a non-destructive manner, why should anyone else care or try to make them feel bad about it?  I think we all need to support those in our lives and focus on working towards our own goals and dreams.  I end this post with another quote from Unlimited:

"Think of it like throwing a boomerang (if anyone actually knows how to do that): whatever you think and feel comes back to you.  And thus the word is karma."

30 miles!

Since I was off work this week and the weather was beautiful, I revolved my days around working out outside.  I worked out for the past 7 days straight!  I lifted weights four times and also ran, walked, and hiked 30 miles this week!  Mid-week, my legs were fairly sore since I hadn't run in a few weeks but I'm feeling so much better and look forward to my daily workouts.  I think I might take tomorrow off as I should give myself a rest day at some point.  I don't feel as though I need to rest but I've experienced workout burnout before and would like to avoid it as I am hitting a good stride right now.

I'm challenging myself to 30 miles in 6 days (Monday-Saturday) this week.  Unfortunately, it looks like the weather is going to be hot and humid here for the next week so it looks like I'll be hanging out on the hamster wheel (treadmill) if I can't get myself up and on the road early in the morning.  I am also planning another four days of lifting.

Yesterday, I took my annual trip to Door County with my mom.  We did a little shopping and completed an easy 7-mile hike in Newport State Park.  I will add a few photos at the end of this post from our hike.  It's so nice to get out in nature and get a good workout at the same time!   I was also excited to realize that my stamina has increased dramatically in the past few months.  Last summer, I did quite a few long hikes (9-12 miles) in the mountains but was just so dead by the end.  Granted, yesterday's hike was no mountain hike by a long shot, but I was really good to go afterwards.  I think I may have even uttered the words, "I could do that again easily!"

As always, we hit Door County Coffee & Tea first (my favorite!) and I picked up pumpkin coffee for this fall and a milk frother that I love!  For those gluten-freers out there, you'll be happy to know that there are quite a few restaurants in Door County that offer gluten free menus and options.  We ate lunch at Wild Tomato Pizza, which had wood fired (yum!) pizzas and gluten-free crusts.  We ate supper at The Cookery.  Coincidentally, we ate both lunch and supper in Fish Creek, but we were pretty hungry after our hike that we were just looking for a place that we knew we would like.  The Cookery had a pretty bad fire since the last time we were there and went from a country cafe to a funky restaurant but is still fantastic! 

Trumpeter Swans in Lake Michigan.  They may not look like it in the photo, but these things are huge!



Anyone notice the large amount of bumble bees this year?



Shell beach!  Literally, this entire beach was covered in a very thick (1 ft minimum) layer of shells!  So cool!



Door County is so beautiful!

Flowers near Lake Michigan.